Element: setPointerCapture() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2020.

The setPointerCapture() method of the Element interface is used to designate a specific element as the capture target of future pointer events. Subsequent events for the pointer will be targeted at the capture element until capture is released (via Element.releasePointerCapture() or the pointerup event is fired).

See pointer events for an overview and examples of how pointer capture works.

Syntax

setPointerCapture(pointerId)

Parameters

pointerId: The pointerId of a PointerEvent object.

Return value

None (undefined).

Exceptions

NotFoundError DOMException: Thrown if pointerId does not match any active pointer.

Examples

This example sets pointer capture on a <div> when you press down on it. This lets you slide the element horizontally, even when your pointer moves outside of its boundaries.

HTML

html

<div id="slider">SLIDE ME</div>

CSS

css

div {
  width: 140px;
  height: 50px;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
  background: #fbe;
  touch-action: none;
}

JavaScript

function beginSliding(e) {
  slider.onpointermove = slide;
  slider.setPointerCapture(e.pointerId);
}

function stopSliding(e) {
  slider.onpointermove = null;
  slider.releasePointerCapture(e.pointerId);
}

function slide(e) {
  slider.style.transform = `translate(${e.clientX - 70}px)`;
}

const slider = document.getElementById("slider");

slider.onpointerdown = beginSliding;
slider.onpointerup = stopSliding;

Result

Specifications

Specification
Pointer Events # dom-element-setpointercapture